Salt Water Powered Supercar Gets European Public Road Approval

The first mental picture I got in my head when hearing about this car was from That 70’s Show, the entire gang sitting in the basement and contemplating on the universe while Hyde goes on about “the government has a car that runs on water, man!”. Whether that was a conspiracy theory or not, this is real.

The Quant e-Sportlimousine is a car that uses electrolyte flow cell power system as the source for power, and it has now gained the official approval to head onto the European roads. The car made it’s début at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show where it got a very warm welcome. I’m sure the car-maniacs among you are hungry for some numbers, so here they are in short. It has a peak of 920 horsepower (680 kW), does 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 2.8 seconds and a has a top speed of 350 km/h (217.5 mph).

“We are delighted as pioneers to be able to present an automobile driven by flow cell technology on public roads, and one which achieves not only fantastic performance values but also zero emissions, a projected top speed of over 350 km/h (217.5 mph), acceleration from 0-100 in 2.8 seconds, a torque of four times 2,900 Nm (2,139 lb-ft) and a range of more than 600 km (373 mi)” said Nunzio La Vecchia, the visionary behind the development of the sports car.

After an in-depth inspection of the car, the German TÜV Süd in Munich handed over the official registration plates. The company will now be able to test the car on public roads in Germany and the rest of Europe as they prepare it for series production.

The flow cell system powering the Quant e-Sportlimousine’s four electric motors develops electricity from the electrochemical reaction created by two electrolyte solutions. This electricity is forwarded to super capacitors where it’s stored and distributed. The power density of the nanoFLOWCELL® at 600 W per kilogram or per litre is greater than any comparable system; five times greater, to be specific. That means you can drive five times further with our system than you can with a conventional battery system, including the most state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. The system is also extremely safe to operate and environmentally friendly. Most importantly, since there are almost no moving parts and it produces negligible waste heat, it has an efficiency of more than 80%. “There has never been anything like it.”

“We’ve got major plans, and not just within the automobile industry,” says NanoFlowcell AG Chairman of the Board Prof. Jens-Peter Ellermann. “The potential of the NanoFlowcell is much greater, especially in terms of domestic energy supplies as well as in maritime, rail and aviation technology. The NanoFlowcell offers a wide range of applications as a sustainable, low cost and environmentally-friendly source of energy.”

Hopefully the company will take the NanoFlowcell technology beyond supercars and make it available to everyone, however the potential of this technology reaches far beyond the road.